About Nava
Nava is a consultancy and public benefit corporation working to make government services simple and effective. Since 2015, federal, state, and local agencies have trusted Nava to help solve highly scrutinized technology modernization challenges.
As a client services company, we guide agencies constrained by legacy systems to a future with sharp user experiences built on secure, reliable, fault-tolerant cloud infrastructure. We bill for our time, offering our expertise and problem-solving approach to help our government partners enhance their digital products and services. People are at the heart of our work, from members of the public who rely on benefit programs to government agency staff. Through human-centered design and modern engineering best practices, we help our government partners understand user needs and deliver on their missions more effectively. This focus gives everyone at Nava the opportunity to do work that is meaningful, impactful, and deeply connected to public good.
Position summary
As a Senior Software Engineer, you will work on a research and development team exploring how new technologies can make complex public systems more responsive, efficient, and user-friendly.
What you'll do
Lead development of scalable, user-facing software that simplifies complex service interactionsArchitect and implement modern backend systems that integrate with diverse data sources and APIsRapidly prototype and iterate on features to test hypotheses, validate user needs, and refine the product through continuous learningWork closely with designers, researchers, and product managers to translate user insights into secure, reliable software.Implement strong privacy, security, and compliance practices in every aspect of the systemContribute to technical documentation, prototyping strategies, and recommendations for future scaling
Required skills
Proven experience designing and building production-grade systems using modern programming languages (e.g., Python, TypeScript, or similar)Strong background in product engineering — translating user and product requirements into reliable, maintainable, and well-tested softwareStrong understanding of API and system integration design, cloud architecture, and data workflowsExperience developing or integrating generative AI applicationsDemonstrated ability to work iteratively—rapidly prototyping, testing, and improving features based on real-world feedbackStrong grounding in security, privacy, and accessibility principles, particularly when handling sensitive or regulated dataExcellent collaboration skills with cross-functional partners including design, product, and research
Desired skills
Familiarity with public benefits systems or other complex, rules-based government processesExperience with document processing, OCR, or data extraction workflows
